800 yards

Cascade hunter · 07-30-2007, 04:39 AM

Last night i was watching a show where they where mule deer hunting and the host was talking about shooting at them from 800 YARDS with a 308 that streching it a littel too much in my opinion.

kdvollmer · 07-30-2007, 04:49 AM

800 yds for a .308 does seem a little of a stretch for deer of any kind. The cartridge will shoot that far. It is the printed maximum effective range of the .308 Sniper Rifle. Would be good at the range for Prairie dogs maybe, but just lacking the energy for deer. Would be more feasible with maybe a 300 WinMag, or a .338.
That range though seems just a little irresponsible for any bullet.

whitetaildreamer · 07-30-2007, 05:03 AM

I'm surprised that they didn't include "shooting from the hip" and the mullie being on a full run.

Cascade hunter · 07-30-2007, 05:06 AM

No the mulie was asleap on a ledge of a clifand he was shooting up at the muile, he was standing by a river

drs1961 · 07-30-2007, 05:54 AM

I've shot 800 yds. with my .308 and have been able to group on paper but at over 20 ft. of bullet drop, you're lobbing the bullet in there. I ran out of vertical adjustment on my scope trying to make the half mile shot, 880 yds. With the downward trajectory of the bullet one would have to know the yardage and windEXACTLY and have a bullet drop chart to make a skilledattempt at a killing shot at that range, not just guessing holdover and chance hitting the deer. As for energy, I was impressed. I was shooting military FMJ and one shot hit the thin-wall 2 in. square steel tubing frame of the target and penetrated both walls ofit!

remingtonshooter1 · 08-02-2007, 10:04 PM

i saw them do something like that on a video on youtube

DGH · 08-03-2007, 06:46 AM

Out west, long range is a given, but 800 yards is just a bit too much! I shoot a .308, a 7 Rem Mag, and a 300 Win Mag; come from a family of long range target shooters, and under no circumstances would any of us try that shot. As DRS said, the .308 will reach that far, and make the kill ifeverything is perfect, but one wind gust, and the bullet may move ten feet = miss, and it may move two = cripple.

I pass the shot personally. 500 yards is getting close though

deadstick · 08-03-2007, 10:23 AM

If the show was Eastman's, I've seen it (shooting a bedded mule deer across a canyon at this distance). He was shooting a .30-.378 Weatherby Magnum for that deer. I think they mentioned it in that show, so maybe it's a different one if you thought it was a .308. I know for sure it was a .30-.378 in the Eastman's segment though, I have the same gun and also visited with his Dad about it a couple months ago.

nchawkeye · 08-03-2007, 11:05 AM

Cascade...Funny you posted this, earlier this week on "Best of the West" the guy shot a black bear at 728 yards, dropped him on the spot...I thought, dang, I sure hope no new hunters (or younger) see this and think it's OK for them to shoot at those kinds of ranges....I will say, this guy had his "stuff" together...Custom rifle, scope, ammo, rest..everything....And he can sure shoot...You can even order a video tape and he will teach you how to shoot this was...I view these type shows as 30 minutes commercials...Frankly this guy should be teaching our sniper
units ...He is that good, but he isn't the norm....

I have seen at least 30-40 hunters shoot their deer rifles in the past 4-5 years and its my opinion that the
"average" deer hunter should keep his shots to less than 150 yards....Now, I am comfortable myself and practice to 300 yards...In eastern NC you can easily have shots past that, but, most deer are just a few bounds away from either a swamp or a cutover, that's why I stop at 300....If I lived out west, where you could see the animal run for several hundred yards after the shot, I could see 400, with the right setup and practice....

BigTiny · 08-03-2007, 04:38 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: nchawkeye

Cascade...Funny you posted this, earlier this week on "Best of the West" the guy shot a black bear at 728 yards, dropped him on the spot...I thought, dang, I sure hope no new hunters (or younger) see this and think it's OK for them to shoot at those kinds of ranges....I will say, this guy had his "stuff" together...Custom rifle, scope, ammo, rest..everything....And he can sure shoot...You can even order a video tape and he will teach you how to shoot this was...I view these type shows as 30 minutes commercials...Frankly this guy should be teaching our sniper
units ...He is that good, but he isn't the norm....

I have seen at least 30-40 hunters shoot their deer rifles in the past 4-5 years and its my opinion that the
"average" deer hunterÂ* shouldÂ* keep his shots to less than 150 yards....Now, I am comfortable myself and practice to 300 yards...In eastern NC you can easily have shots past that, but, most deer are just a few bounds away from either a swamp or a cutover, that's why I stop at 300....If I lived out west, where you could see the animal run for several hundred yards after the shot, I could see 400, with the right setup and practice....

Keep in mind that guy's rig probably set him back $10K(not counting the custom ammo), and he makes his living doing this, so he gets lots of practice. I would like to see him try to make that shot with an off the rack gun and ammo.